Cirkus Columbia: Balkan irony and nostalgia
Bosnian
writer and director Danis Tanović became a
celebrity in the international film community overnight
with the release of
No Man's Land, an
award-winning drama about the horrors of the Bosnia-Herzegovina
war. Released in 2001,
No Man's Landsucceeded
in portraying the futility of the war between Bosnia and Serbia, as
two enemy soldiers are forced to share a wary trust and put their
lives in each other's hands. The film won the Oscar and Golden
Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film, Best Script prizes at the
Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards, and the Best New
Director trophy at the 2001 César Awards. It garnered over 40
international awards, making it one of the most awarded first
feature films in history.
Following
the release of No Man's
Land,
Tanovićmoved
the action of his subsequent films away from his home. The specter
of war still loomed large, however; 2009's Triage, for instance,
told the riveting tale of a photojournalist, Mark Walsh, who has
earned a reputation for working in some of the most unforgiving
locations on the planet. Asked to cover the fighting in Kurdistan,
Mark returns from the assignment a changed, broken man.
Cirkus
Columbiacharts
a different sort of return: in the
Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1991, following the Communists' fall from
power, Divko Buntić(Miki
Manojlovi
ć)
returns to his small hometown after a 20-year exile in Germany.
Divko parades into town in a flashy red Mercedes, with a sexy young
girlfriend, and a (large) pocketful of Deutschmarks. He is firmly
intent on reclaiming his family home, and will stop at nothing to
bring his revengeful purpose to fruition.Divko's
first move is to evict his ex-wife Lucija (Mira Furlan) and son
Martin (Boris Ler) from the house they have occupied for the last
two decades. Tanović
uses the escalating conflict between Divko and Lucija to mirror the
increasing political unrest in the region; asDivko
goes about settling petty scores with his family and former
friends, he is unaware that much larger issues are threatening the
small town's future (and his own).
Tanović relies on a healthy dose of humor to tackle heavy social
and political issues. In doing so, he brings to mind the style of
seasoned Serbian director Emir Kusturica. As a matter of fact, both
MikiManojlovi
ć and Mira Furlan had previously starred alongside each other, in
Kusturica's 1985 Palme d'Or-winning When Father Was Away on
Business.
Cirkus Columbia
is an adaptation of the debut novel by Croatian journalist Ivica
Djikić; the book is an account of the breakdown of the former
Yugoslavia. Upon reading the novel, Tanović said that it reminded
him of Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci's epic film Novecento, "which is
about the beginning of the last century, whereas this book is
talking about the end of the century, in the Balkans. It almost
seems as if it was written to be filmed, because it is so visual.
The novel is in no way similar to my experience, but there is
something about it that touches the nerve of almost every Bosnian,
or should I say Herzegovinian (...) I hope that putting this story
on a big screen will help other children of war to
remember."